Millions of people suffer with jaw pain. For some patients, it's so debilitating, they'll try anything to get relief.
Laurie Violi suffered for two decades with excruciating pain in her jaw that went straight to her head.
"I had such bad headaches and I couldn’t sleep at night," Laurie explained.
Laurie is one of about 10 million people living with the temporomandibular joint disorder or TMJ .
"The chewing muscles that you have here. They swell up OK and they have inflammation in them. And the reason usually is because of a clenching or grinding problem," says Dr. Salomon Maya.
Laurie tried mouth guards and even had her teeth shaved down.
She finally got relief when her dentist used Botox.
Dr. Maya injects 10 to 12 areas around Laurie's jaw and face every 3 or 4 months.
"When you inject it into the jaw muscle you are relaxing that muscle,” say Maya.
Botox is FDA approved to treat wrinkles, migraines and eye muscle disorders, but it's still being studied for the treatment of jaw pain. And that means insurance doesn't cover it.
Laurie pays about $400 to $500 for each session .
"It’s changed my life completely," she claims.
Laurie says it's worth it to finally find something that eases her pain.
Doctors recommend people with tmj try other traditional treatments first like mouth guards, hot and cold packs and eating soft foods.
